The Reading Augustine series presents concise, personal readings of St. Augustine of Hippo from leading philosophers and religious scholars. Ian Clausen's On Love, Confession, Surrender and the Moral Self describes Augustine's central ideas on morality and how he arrived at them. Describing an intellectual journey that will resonate especially with readers at the beginning of their own journey, Clausen shows that Augustine's early writing career was an outworking of his own inner turmoil and discovery, and that both were to summit, triumphantly, on his monumental book Confessions (AD 386-401). On Love, Confession, Surrender and the Moral Self offers a way of looking at Augustine's early writing career as an on-going, developing process: a process whose chief result was to shape a conception of the moral self that has lasted and prospered to the present day.

This book argues that significant progress toward a plausible solution of the ancient philosophical problem of free will has been made over the past 125 years by a line of thinkers starting with William James. The latest work integrates Jamesian two-stage models of free will with the self-forming actions of Robert Kane, a leading libertarian and editor of The Oxford Handbook of Free Will. It also includes Daniel Dennett's Valerian Model and Alfred Mele's Modest Libertarianism. In this illustrated college-level sourcebook/textbook, Bob Doyle provides a history of the free will problem, a taxonomy of current free will positions, the standard argument against free will, the physics, biology, and neuroscience of free will, and extensive reviews of the work of Kane, Dennett, Mele, and the leading determinist philosopher, Ted Honderich. John Searle called it a scandal that after all the centuries of writing about free will, we have not agreed on much progress. According to Doyle, a more serious scandal today is that academic philosophers are convincing many young students that they are deterministic biological machines with only a "compatibilist free will," when genuine "libertarian" free will is available to us. Doyle recounts the many different forms of determinism that have been used over the centuries to deny human freedom and responsibility. To end the scandal, philosophers need to teach a two-stage model of free will and creativity that reconciles free will with indeterminism, just as David Hume reconciled freedom of action with determinism. The free-will model is actually triply compatible; compatible with an adequate determinism, compatible with indeterminism (since William James), and compatible with biological evolution. 'Free Will: The Scandal in Philosophy' Bob Doyle Hardcover 9780983580270 480 pages, b&w, 40 figures, 15 sidebars, glossary, bibliography, index. $49.95USD Also available in paperback ($29.95) and various eBook editions.

Governing for the Environment explores one of the dimensions of the value-knowledge system needed in any movement towards humane governance for the planet: the ecological sustainability and integrity of the Earth's environment. The book begins from the premise that while environmental knowledge and values have developed rapidly, their development must not overwhelm consideration of other core 'humane' values: peace, social justice, and human rights. The book's contributors explore a variety of ethical issues that must inform future global regulation of the Earth's environment.

This book contains a range of essays on topics in the emerging field of "constitutional political economy". This field of enquiry is strongly associated with the name of James M. Buchanan whose research program has been the point of departure for this field. The essays are a selection of those written by colleagues and researchers in the field to honor Buchanan on the occasion of his 80th birthday. They cover a wide range of topics but fall primarily into two sets: one set dealing with methodological aspects of the c.p.e. approach; the other dealing with specific applications in a variety of policy areas, ranging from "economic transformation" to monetary policy regimes to health care. One particular issue in the methodological area relates to the model of motivation used - and more especially, the role of "morality" in economic and political behavior. The five essays on this topic make up one of the sections of the book, and justify reference to the issue in the volume's title.

Michael Pritchard's study of individual morality is set in the trenches, in the valley of life itself. The moral agent he describes is real, not one of the rarified, rational characters portrayed in most ethics texts. Thus the view of morality Pritchard presents in these eleven essays is pluralistic, complex, and down-to-earth.

Pritchard rejects the premise that moral development begins in self-interest, citing evidence of empathy and moral connectedness in very young children. He provides a deliberate and convincing argument for a new starting point for the discussion of moral development, one in which self-interest and empathy are innate and equally essential groundings for individual morality. He then builds a comprehensive framework for tracing moral development that allows human morality to be grounded in both reason and emotion, and recognizes the importance to morality of justice and rights as well as caring and responsibility.

Pritchard's work is both a product of and a contribution to the field of moral psychology that began in the 1960s as a blending of philosophical theories on morality and ethics with insights from psychological theory on human development and moral behavior. Through his essays run the common threads of moral education, the complexity of ingredients and influences in moral life, and the concept of personal integrity.

"Pritchard displays a remarkable, and sometimes ingenious, sensitivity to the fabric of the moral life. Reading through this work is rather like being on a moral 'dig' where one precious gem after the other is turned up. . . . It deals with the moral life as it is actually lived. Virtually any person on the street could identify with Pritchard's moral agents, whereas the moral agents in the texts of most philosophers turn out to be rarified creatures that no one would ever supposed had walked the earth. . . . Pritchard's discussion of Kohlberg is masterful and extraordinarily subtle--a most important and very significant addition to the literature on this central figure in moral development. The chapter "Accountability, Understanding, and Sentiments" is a ground-breaking piece."--Laurence Thomas, author of "Living Morally: A Psychology of Moral Character."

"Offers a thoughtful, imaginative, and responsible consideration of a broad range of issues in ethics that have engaged contemporary philosophers and psychologists."--Gareth Matthews, author of "Philosophy and the Young Child" and "Dialogues with Young Children."

Bioethics: The Basics is an introduction to the foundational principles, theories and issues in the study of medical and biological ethics. Readers are introduced to bioethics from the ground up before being invited to consider some of the most controversial but important questions facing us today. Topics addressed include: the range of moral theories underpinning bioethics arguments for the rights and wrongs of abortion, euthanasia and animal research health care ethics including the nature of the practitioner-patient relationship public policy ethics and the implications of global and public health '3 parents', enhancement, incidental findings and nudge approaches in health care. This thoroughly revised second edition provides a concise, readable and authoritative introduction for anyone interested in the study of bioethics.

Wittgenstein criticised prevailing attitudes toward the sciences. The target of his criticisms was 'scientism': what he described as 'the overestimation of science'. This collection is the first study of Wittgenstein's anti-scientism - a theme in his work that is clearly central to his thought yet strikingly neglected by the existing literature. The book explores the philosophical basis of Wittgenstein's anti-scientism; how this anti-scientism helps us understand Wittgenstein's philosophical aims; and how this underlies his later conception of philosophy and the kind of philosophy he attacked. An outstanding team of international contributors articulate and critically assess Wittgenstein's views on scientism and anti-scientism, making Wittgenstein and Scientism essential reading for students and scholars of Wittgenstein's work, on topics as varied as the philosophy of mind and psychology, philosophical practice, the nature of religious belief, and the place of science in modern culture. Contributors: Jonathan Beale, William Child, Annalisa Coliva, David E. Cooper, Ian James Kidd, James C. Klagge, Daniele Moyal-Sharrock, Rupert Read, Genia Schoenbaumsfeld, Severin Schroeder, Benedict Smith, and Chon Tejedor.

In this radical reinterpretation of Rousseau, Jeremiah Alberg reveals the neglected theological dimension of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's philosophy. Alberg shows how only Christianity can bring the coherence of Rousseau's system to light, arguing that the philosopher's system of thought is founded on theological scandal and on his inability to accept forgiveness through Christianity. This book explores Rousseau's major works in a novel way, advancing his system of thought as an alternative to Christianity.

Some things are reasons for us to perform certain actions. That it will spare you great pain in the future, for example, is a reason for you to go to the dentist now, and that you are already late for work is a reason for you not to read the next article in the morning paper. Why are such considerations reasons for or against certain actions? Constructivism offers an intriguing answer to this question. Its basic idea is often encapsulated in the slogan that reasons are not discovered but made by us. Andreas Muller elaborates this idea into a fully-fledged account of practical reasons, makes its theoretical commitments explicit, and defends it against some well-known objections. Constructing Practical Reasons begins with an examination of the distinctive role that reason judgements play in the process of practical reasoning. This provides the resources for an anti-representationalist conception of the nature of those judgements, according to which they are true, if they are true, not because they accurately represent certain normative facts, but because of their role in sound reasoning. On the resulting view, a consideration owes its status as a reason to the truth of the corresponding reason judgement and thus, ultimately, to the soundness of a certain episode of reasoning. Consequently, our practical reasons exhibit a kind of mind-dependence, but this does not force us to deny their objectivity.

In this fascinating study, Peter Johnson makes explicit the issues involved in using the novel as a source in moral philosophy. The book pays close attention to questions of method, aesthetic accounts of the novel and the nature of ethical knowledge. The views of leading philosophers are examined and criticized in the light of the book's distinctive contribution to the current debate.

The morality of capital punishment has been debated for a long time. This however has 1 not resulted in the settlement of the question either way. Philosophers are still divided. In this work I am not addressing the morality of capital punishment per se. My question is different but related. It is this. Whether or not capital punishment is morally right, is it moral or immoral for medical doctors to be involved in the practice? To deal with this question I start off in Chapter One delineating the sort of involvement the medical associations consider to be morally problematic for medical doctors in capital punishment. They make a distinction between what they call 2 "medicalisation" of and "involvement" in capital punishment, and argue that there is a moral distinction between the two. Whilst it is morally acceptable for doctors to be "involved" in capital punishment, according to the medical associations, it is immoral to medicalise the practice. I clarify this position and show what moral issues arise. I then suggest that there should not be a distinction between the two. The medical associations argue that the medicalisation of capital punishment, especially the use by medical doctors of lethal injection to execute condemned prisoners is immoral and therefore should be prohibited, because it involves doctors in doing what is against the aims of medicine.

What is fair? How and when can punishment be legitimate? Is there recompense for human suffering? How can we understand ideas about immortality or an afterlife in the context of critical thinking on the human condition? In this book L. E. Goodman presents the first general theory of justice in this century to make systematic use of the Jewish sources and to bring them into a philosophical dialogue with the leading ethical and political texts of the Western tradition. Goodman takes an ontological approach to questions of natural and human justice, developing a theory of community and of nonvindictive yet retributive punishment that is grounded in careful analysis of various Jewish sources-biblical, rabbinic, and philosophical, His exegesis of these sources allow Plato, Kant, and Rawls to join in a discourse with Spinoza and medieval rationalists, such as Saasidah and Maimonides, who speak in a very different idiom but address many of the same themes. Drawing on sources old and new, Jewish and non-Jewish, Goodman offers fresh perspectives on important moral and theological issues that will be of interest to both Jewish and secular philosophers.

Henry Sidgwick's The Methods of Ethics challenges comparison, as no other work in moral philosophy, with Aristotle's Ethics in the depth of its understanding of practical rationality, and in its architectural coherence it rivals the work of Kant. In this historical, rather than critical study, Professor Schneewind shows how Sidgwick's arguments and conclusions represent rational developments of the work of Sidgwick's predecessors, and brings out the nature and structure of the reasoning underlying his position.

Human Lives: Critical Essays on Consequentialist Bioethics is a collection of original papers by philosophers from Britain, the USA and Australia. The aim of the book is to redress the imbalance in moral philosophy created by the dominance of consequentialism, the view that the criterion of morality is the maximization of good effects over bad, without regard for basic right or wrong. This approach has become the orthodoxy over the last few decades, particularly in the field of bioethics, where moral theory is applied to matters of life and death. The essays in Human Lives critically examine the assumptions and arguments of consequentialism, reviving in the process important concepts such as rights, justice, innocence, natural integrity, flourishing, the virtues, and the fundamental value of human life.

Social Ethics and Governance in Contemporary African Writing is the first book to bring rigorous literary, philosophical, and artistic discourse together to interrogate the ethics of governance and development in postcolonial Africa. It takes literature seriously as a context for philosophical reflection, vividly engaging the human agency, creativity, and resourcefulness of local Nigerians as political and social actors and shedding new light on the dynamics of human flourishing. Drawing on important secondary scholarship across several humanities disciplines, especially literature, philosophy, and the performing arts, Nimi Wariboko provides compelling and innovative analysis of the challenges and opportunities on governance and development in postcolonial Nigerian state and society. With a detailed introductory chapter and an authoritative analysis contained in six cohesive chapters, all anchored in political and social ethics and close readings of fascinating literary and artistic works-such as A. Igoni Barrett's Blackass and the comedy skits of MC Edo Pikin-this is a landmark contribution to Nigerian cultural studies. Wariboko's practical engagement between literature and philosophy also opens up new ways of seeing literary analysis as ethical methodology, beyond the specific contexts of Nigeria or Africa.

Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics is an annual forum for new work in normative ethical theory. Leading philosophers present original contributions to our understanding of a wide range of moral issues and positions, from analysis of competing approaches to normative ethics (including moral realism, constructivism, and expressivism) to questions of how we should act and live well. OSNE will be an essential resource for scholars and students working in moral philosophy.

The Nature of Normativity presents a complete theory about the nature of normative thought --that is, the sort of thought that is concerned with what ought to be the case, or what we ought to do or think. Ralph Wedgwood defends a kind of realism about the normative, according to which normative truths or facts are genuinely part of reality.
Anti-realists often complain that realism gives rise to demands for explanation that it cannot adequately meet. What is the nature of these normative facts? How could we ever know them or even refer to them in language or thought? Wedgwood accepts that any adequate version of realism must answer these explanatory demands. However, he seeks to show that these demands can be met -- in large part by relying on a version of the idea, which has been much discussed in recent work in the philosophy of mind, that the intentional is normative -- that is, that there is no way of explaining the nature of the various sorts of mental states that have intentional or representational content (such as beliefs, judgments, desires, decisions, and so on), without stating normative facts. On the basis of this idea, Wedgwood provides a detailed systematic theory that deals with the following three areas: the meaning of statements about what ought to be; the nature of the facts stated by these statements; and what justifies us in holding beliefs about what ought to be.

Should I always tell the truth, even when my client will be hurt? How far should I go in protecting my client's rights? I work in an agency so sometimes I'm struggling to resolve ethical conflicts between the duty I owe to my client and the responsibilities I have toward my employer. What should I do? How do I handle the sticky issue of counselling minors? The client's needs come first, but what happens when those needs run contrary to the wishes of the parents? These are just a few of the many questions that frequently confront those in the helping professions.Where can professionals turn when they find themselves asking compelling questions about their relationships with clients? This book seeks to raise the consciousness of counsellors regarding the ethical dimensions of their professional behaviour. In addition, Dr Stein provides helping professionals with an opportunity to explore their own ethical values within the context of problematic situations and, in doing so, become better prepared to serve their clients. A number of fundamental issues are discussed in detail: the rights of clients, the rights of counsellors, codes of ethics, confidentiality, working with children, sexual relationships with clients, lying and deception, paternalism, and the ethical dimensions of consulting. No counsellor can afford to be without this helpful overview of the ethical issues facing today's professional.

Max Scheler and Nicolai Hartmann developed ethics upon a phenomenological basis. This volume demonstrates that their contributions to a material ethics of value are complementary: by supplementing the work of one with that of the other, we obtain a comprehensive and defensible axiological and moral theory. By "phenomenology," we refer to an intuitive procedure that attempts to describe thematically the insights into essences, or the meaning-elements of judgments, that underlie and make possible our conscious awareness of a world and the evaluative judgments we make of the objects and persons we encounter in the world.

Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest, among both philosophers, legal scholars, and military experts, on the ethics of war. Due in part due to post 9/11 events, this resurgence is also due to a growing theoretical sophistication among scholars in this area. Recently there has been very influential work published on the justificaton of killing in self-defense and war, and the topic of the ethics of war is now more important than ever as a discrete field. The 28 commissioned chapters in this Handbook will present a comprehensive overview of the field as well as make significant and novel contributions, and collectively they will set the terms of the debate for the next decade. Lazar and Frowe will invite the leading scholars in the field to write on topics that are new to them, making the volume a compilation of fresh ideas rather than a rehash of earlier work. The volume will be dicided into five sections: Method, History, Resort, Conduct, and Aftermath. The contributors will be a mix of junior and senior figures, and will include well known scholars like Michael Walzer, Jeff McMahan, and David Rodin.

In the modern era, businesses have developed a complex relationship with the society surrounding them. While the effects of business activity are clearly seen, their direct impact varies from country to country. Comparative Perspectives on Global Corporate Social Responsibility is a pivotal reference source for the latest scholarly research on the accountability contemporary businesses face for the environmental, social, and economic impacts that they create. Highlighting the variant expressions between developed and developing countries, this book is ideally designed for graduate students, professionals, practitioners, and academicians interested in furthering their knowledge on corporate social responsibility.